Mr. Mayhew has paid a grave disservice to Dr. Rosenberg's excellent
Malacolog which is kept up to date and is far superior to any other such web
site.  If you want misinformation about Western Atlantic mollusks try the
government's ITIS for which taxpayer's dollars are used.

Malacolog is a reflexion of the latest published literature.  Dr. Rosenberg
cannot be expected to monograph the entire faunal area for the convenience
of Mr. Mayhew.  Using Mr. Mayhew's criteria, one should not ever quote any
literature as it is "erratic and full of errors."   I suggest that Mr.
Mayhew contribute some of his extensive and detailed knowledge to "the
published record" that he derides and possibly bring it up to a standard he
can accept.  Information must be published before it can be picked up and
entered onto Malacolog or any other database.  Incidentally, Malacolog was
not designed or intended to be "quoted" but is a reference to the gastropods
of the area giving references that can be located, searched and referenced.

Mr. Mayhew alleges "errors" in Malacolog but mentions none.  Non-inclusion
of possibly new species that have not been named is not an error.  As with
any other work, Malacolog may have minor errors from time to time but I can
assure Mr. Mayhew that "errors" on Malacolog are corrected immediately when
brought to the attention of Dr. Rosenberg.

It is well known that many faunal areas need extensive work, the western
Atlantic being near the top of the list.  Within the faunal areas some
groups are less well-known than others and need study.  Until such studies
are made and published we have no alternative other than to use the
available literature combined.  As such studies are published changes will
immediately be made on Malacolog.

Dick Petit

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